"El Pipila"

Siege of Guanajuato

On September 28, 1810, twelve days after Hidalgo’s ‘Grito de Delores”, Miguel Hidalgo and 20,000 rebels attacked the Spanish Garrison in the nearby town of Guanajuato with pitchforks and machetes. The Spanish barricaded themselves in a massive stone seed and grain storehouse built around 1800. It looked as if the outnumbered but better armed Spaniards might be able to hold out. Then a young miner named Juan Jose de los Reyes Martinez (aka “El Pipila”), acting under orders from Hidalgo, tied a slab of stone to his back and, thus protected from Spanish bullets, carried a torch up to the wooden gates of the storehouse and set them ablaze. When the gates burned and fell, the rebels rushed the storehouse, killing most of the Garrison inside. It was the rebel’s first major victory in Mexico’s War of Independence. “El Pipila” is honored as a Hero of the Independence Movement. Some recounts of the event report him killed in the ensuing battle but others report him surviving and living to a ripe old age. I prefer the later.

We are staying in San Miguel de Allende for a few more days. Getting the damaged roof of the motorhome looked at too a long time and prevented us from seeing all the sights around here. This is an important area to me and I do not want to cut my visit short. The damage turned out to be covered by our Mexican Vehicle Insurance with $500 USD deductible. They want us to have it repaired in Mexico up near El Paso, Texas where we were going to exit anyway. I will make a temporary repair with Duct Tape to prevent any more damage. There is no chance of rain down here so that is not a problem.

There is no longer any Internet service from the RV Park - router crash and burn - so I have to use internet Cafe's. As a result my postings will not be a frequent.